Also, does anybody else think that entitling the collection 'Skinny Line' sounds incredibly pretentious? By now we know Hedi won't be trying his hand on anything oversize in terms of silhouette, let alone the cut of his jeans...

tricotineacetat: I don't think calling it the "Skinny Line" is pretentious-- I think it's become a caricature; shallow, superficial and one-dimensional; it's a cartoon. It's stating the obvious...

Hedi seems to have fully become the caricature of the fashion stereotype; temperamental, overly-sensitive to criticism and designs that are at once PR-overrated and stale. I'm sure they're very well made-- even couture-level refined with the Saint Laurent line, but the designs are everything we've seen before. Like Tom Ford before him, Hedi seems to have given into his own hype, and feels he can dictate that 2005 is new and fresh again-- just as Tom had dictated that 2004 is new again. There is no progression, innovation or a new outlook to his design philosophy. No growth. And this "Skinny Line" is cringe-inducing: Typical ultra rail-thin boy in prerequisite indie-rocker uniform of biker jacket, jean jacket, leopard prints, supertight jeans... These are all pieces readily available anywhere, from high street to vintage stores. Before someone chimes in that they'll be artisanal, even couture-level in quality and cut-- I think that's what makes it all so cringe-worthy: The image of young, struggling indie rockers wearing "couture" denim.

Also, does anybody else think that entitling the collection 'Skinny Line' sounds incredibly pretentious? By now we know Hedi won't be trying his hand on anything oversize in terms of silhouette, let alone the cut of his jeans...

Props to Nicolas for admitting this, it's true Balenciaga was out of control with their cuts, certain items didn't allow movement (no matter how skinny the waist/torso) I'm so not surprised they used females for fits but what a goof I always found that Hedi was somewhat of a master in tailoring because he somehow figured out how to keep his slim clothing comfortable on a man. as for the skinny line i agree the name/concept is kind of ridiculous but i guess it makes sense... as for the denim, the raw selvage will be a straight cut 19cm, the slim & skinny will be 17.5 & 16cm (!!!) with 2% stretch..

^ I wish he'd gone with Creator of Skinny Line ... there could be a graphic of a Sistine Chapel hand reaching down from the heavens, holding a pair of skinnies. Tagline could be "And on the eighth day ..."

__________________There's a need for more individuality today, and my job is to cater to women, not dictate to them. --Alber Elbaz

LOL...the hate is so strong it's become funny..you guys sound obsessed repeating the same non constructive thing every day, surely there are other labels out there you might gravitate? perhaps it's time to move on? anyways here's a relative comment hedi made in a interview a short while ago:

" I started to work on my silhouette since the end of my Saint Laurent years, when I had the option to pursue my own style. I also started it because it was the only thing that would fit me, to be totally honest.

I became very repetitive with it over the years, as I was trying to define it accurately.

I always thought it was all about repetition, and I became extremely stubborn despite my opponents and the natural aim of the fashion industry to look for something new each season. I never wanted to please, as long as I could follow my beliefs. I always and only thought about my own time and the birth of an entire generation.

I heard so much about my proportions, and how absurd and unsuccessful, for instance, my skinny jeans and silhouette would be. I also heard about my lack of definition in masculinity, as I was aiming to try another definition. I also was questioned about my attraction to music, as I still believe there is no fashion without music. Marie Antoinette knew better when she fetched Gluck to Versailles, to try her new wardrobe on the dance floor. Nothing will ever change. Fashion = music + youth + sex. This is what my menswear and my style were always about.

Besides the proportions, it was about an allure, a certain movement.

I always believed the way men or women wear clothes (le porté, in French) defines fashion, and funnily enough, through history, furniture design.

Funnily enough, when I decided to put design on hold for a minute, it was all about how skinny was dead and how men would suddenly flip in the other direction. It ended up the contrary. "

Slimane tried his hand at volume in the past, much as his style was at some point less referential than it has eventually become now or at the peak of his Dior Homme tenure. This is what I, as well as a lot of his former fans and press, are complaining about; the obviousness of his aesthetics, the fact that 'skinny' and 'rock'n'roll' seem to be the only cornerstones of the Slimane aesthetics.

Slimane still enjoys a certain elusive artists' halo that a lot of other designers, such as Isabel Marant, Christophe Decarnin et all would never (most rightfully) be associated with - I think this stems largely to the earliest beginnings of his career, when his clothes would have fitted very well next to more conceptual designers, such as the Japanese or Belgian 'school' of design. It's somewhat very similar to Olivier Theyskens' direction; Nobody would have cared for him if he had come up with a collection like Theyskens' Theory towards the beginning of his career, it was the uncompromising artistry and artisanship that helped build the reputation from which Theory is these days cashing heavily for the sale of his lines for the brand, the collections he delivers these days are nothing but a shadow of the artistic consequence and intensity of his work for Rochas and Nina Ricci.

Finally a valid criticism.. I agree that well he says it himself..it's very repetitive.. but if it is all he knows and loves, should he really abandon this direction in favor of something radically different, for the sake of change? I was very disappointed when Raf decided sometime around 2007 to abandon all references to youth & urbanism in his own line as he thought it was time to "mature" his clientele. well i'm not sure they really followed, i certainly didn't. Same thing at Lanvin, this new "edgy" "futuristic" vibe Albert & Lucas have been working on doesn't please me a bit... I know it's in fashions nature to challenge and renew but it isn't always necessary to reinvent the wheel..

Another way to describe "being stuck at Skinny" is "lack of Range & Imagination". It demonstrates Slimane's limitations, not his strength. The best designers in modern fashion history, eg. Raf Simons, know how to define BOTH a tight silhouette as well as volume around the human body.

When I look at Yohji Yamamoto's work, there are for instance more layers to his aesthetic than the oversized, borrowed-from-the-men's-working-wardrobe approach that a lot of people see in him - There is an underlying fragile feminity as well as some seriously elegant dressmaking that juxtaposes the more masculine attitude of his other silhouettes very well - And he also isn't stuck on proposing 'just' outsize, which is what a lot of people that are not in the know do not seem to realize; Some of his Edwardian-inspired tailoring is cut very close to the body.

As a very slim person, I would probably be lead to agree that skinny clothes would be the only thing that flatters on a small size, which I do not agree with - People like Rick Owens were very successful to take the skinny suit forward, juxtaposing the tight jacket with more generous pants or a high armhole with a voluminous fit on the body. I also have a really wide legged, pleated, almost a-line trouser from Slimane's earliest collections at Dior (probably as wide as 35cm in the hem) that still feels completely contemporary to wear these days - Those kind of clothes I eventually gave up to find in a Hedi Slimane collection.

LOL...the hate is so strong it's become funny..you guys sound obsessed repeating the same non constructive thing every day, surely there are other labels out there you might gravitate? perhaps it's time to move on? anyways here's a relative comment hedi made in a interview a short while ago:

Satirizing an outsize, ridiculous ego that is overshadowing the work is not hate.

__________________There's a need for more individuality today, and my job is to cater to women, not dictate to them. --Alber Elbaz